Top 20 Favorite TV Shows To Date
Top 20 Favorite TV Shows To Date
Decided to make another list, because I can and I wanted to.
20. Jeopardy! - The only game show I ever really liked, other than some silly ones on Nickelodeon when I was a kid growing up. Jeopardy is a staple of my family. We would watch it every night at dinner.
19. Captain N: The Game Master - One of my fondest childhood nostalgia cartoons. Captain N was my wildest dreams brought to the television screen... a boy gets sucked into his Nintendo set and goes on adventures with his favorite characters. And he flirts with a princess. Oh, good times.
18. NewsRadio - A much underrated comedy show from the 90s. Phil Hartman and Dave Foley were great on here. Especially Phil. RIP.
17. Star Trek: Voyager - Definitely not my favorite Trek, but a good series nonetheless. I think its main downfall with me was that I never really got into any of the characters that much. Tom Paris grew on me over time, as well as The Doctor... and Seven of Nine was of course entertaining in her own way (though her character was cool). But the majority of the cast was pretty boring. And I definitely didn't like Janeway much as a captain.
16. The Twilight Zone (original) - Alright, so this classic show deserves to be higher up on the list. But I never truly, obsessively got into this show. But there are some killer episodes and the writing was genius.
15. Jericho - A great post-apocalyptic show that unfortunately got canned. Some of the character arcs were done pretty poorly and I attribute that to the show’s failure. But there were a few great characters and the overall plot was great and full of depth. Even though this show didn’t make it too far, like some others on this list, it deserves proper recognition.
14. Arrested Development - Speaking of shows that got canned that didn't deserve it... wow. Fox is notorious for being idiotic like that. Arrested Development has some of the most ridiculous characters, and a great directing style. Its absurdity isn't as ostensible as some other comedies and I think that gave it a good balance.
13. The Office (UK) - I like the American Office a lot, but the UK one is A+mazing. Gareth is so much funnier than Dwight. And come on... David Brent is so much better than Michael Scott. The American version has its perks and has obviously been more successful, but I much preferred the subtlety of the UK version. Credit is due and given.
12. Upright Citizens Brigade - This comedy is one whose absurdity was much less subtle than Arrested Development. UCB was sketch comedy on hallucinogens. Though it went downhill from Season 1, it remains one of my favorite comedy shows because of its insane ability to make you think, "How the FUCK did they think of that?" I mean, come on. Bucket of Truth? Poo Stick? Power Marketing? NEW BRAIN!!!!!!!! Hyper-minimalism. The Saigon Suicide Show. Astronaut Prejudice... fucking Astronauts. You wouldn't want one of those damn astronauts living in your neighborhood. And the end of the Time Machine episode=pure genius.
11. 30 Rock - Tina Fey. She has become a sensation this year. I'm definitely in love with this show. The characters are all great. Tracy Morgan (Tracy Jordan) is just out of control. Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) is just fantastic. And Frank (Judah Friedlander) is great along with all his weird hat-donning self.
10. 24 - This is kind of a guilty pleasure. When I first heard the premise of 24, it sounded like such a gimmick. Just some dumb action show with the "real time, 24 hours of a day in a season" as novelty. But I had a friend pull me into it by letting me borrow the Season 1 DVD. I got hooked. What can I say? The suspense on the show is well-written. Jack Bauer is actually somewhat interesting. I really wish it had more of an ensemble cast, though. I don't like how they recycle through so many characters. There are some good ones mixed in there that deserved more screen time. Other than that minor defect, this show is amazing, and I do have an alpha male who loves action lurking deep within me, somewhere.
9. Curb Your Enthusiasm - Larry David in all his cynical glory. I empathize so much with him and his interaction with people. CYE is just great and there's not much more to say.
8. Battlestar Galactica (new) - Battlestar had the potential to be even closer to #1. In fact, judging the miniseries and Season 1 alone, it is definitely top 3 quality. But the failures of Season 2 beyond leave such a bad taste in my mouth with this show. The direction they have taken it did not appeal to me at all. The mystery of the cylons was quickly unraveled and had little depth or anything interesting. They definitely didn't have very good plans for the long term of the show. The last season felt VERY contrived. BUT, nonetheless, Season 1 is just too goddamn amazing. Dark, realistic science fiction. Great characters. Great drama. Great battles. Great mystery. That's what I like.
7. Star Trek: Deep Space 9 - DS9's main quality that appealed to me was its plot. The Dominion War is one of the most epic things ever in any Star Trek series, if not *the* most. The over-arching plot between all of the seasons was so well written. Unfortunately some of the characters were a little one-dimensional. This show was great, but it could have been even better if they spent a little more time with the characters. Fortunately there was another show even more epic coincidentally on a space station that DID flesh out its characters, and its recognition is below. Oh, and Garak owns you.
6. Firefly - Another Fox show that was retardedly canned. This is the epitome of just that... a show with great potential that doesn't get a second chance to prove itself. Fortunately it at least got a movie to cover some holes, but definitely not to the extent that we all wanted. How this show never got a second season just blows my mind. The characters are so finely crafted and memorable. The balance of drama and humor was immaculate. The depth of the world they created was grand. Oh, Firefly... why did you have to die down?
5. Seinfeld - My favorite comedy show. Pretty typical, yeah. But Seinfeld is just... wow. There are have been so many moments where I've thought of this show because it is so right about so many things that we never take the time to think about. So many sentences I've started with "Well... it's kind of like that episode of Seinfeld where..." The main characters are all fantastic and their interactions make the show what it is. Larry David's touch is ubiquitous and genius. I mean, it's Seinfeld... do I really need to say more?
4. Babylon 5 - I mentioned in my Deep Space 9 description another epic sci-fi show on a space station. Of course, this is Babylon 5. Unfortunately Season 1 sucked badly but Season 2 and the entire rest make up for it. Babylon 5 was written by J. Michael Straczynski and the way it was written is the paragon of so many shows today. Each episode had an "A" storyline which had a beginning, middle, and an end. But the episode also had a "B" storyline which arced throughout the entire season. And there was also a "C" storyline that arced over the entire series. The show is the epitome of epic. The Shadow War's buildup and climax from subtle suggestions to all out war was simply sublime.
The characters were all fleshed out and great. Londo Mollari stands out as one of my favorite characters of all time (maybe I'll make a list of those, sometime!) due to his dark cynicism and dying pride of his empire. He was so carefully crafted as a character that was not quite a villain but definitely not good. His morals were all over the floor at certain points of the show. Nonetheless, I couldn't help but feel empathetic toward Londo. He wasn't evil... just vastly misguided.
3. Mad Men - Mad Men quickly became one of my favorite shows, right from the first episode I saw. The directing is probably the best I've seen on television. It brings television on par with great cinema in terms of quality, as it SHOULD be doing. Because so many shows just try to suck up ad money, they are just trite and predictable and often poorly directed. How ironic it is that Mad Men follows an advertising company. I actually find the office dealings very interesting. And of course Don Draper's product pitches are awe-inspiring. The view into the 60s is a great touch to the show. But of course it's all about the characters in the end... Peggy, Don, Peter, and pretty much everyone else. Mad Men is just amazing.
2. Star Trek: The Next Generation - I almost don't know what to say here. When I was a kid, Star Trek seemed boring. I don't know. I liked Star Wars, but I just had this impression of Star Trek being a silly show with people shouting out a lot of technobabble and shooting aliens with phasers. And yeah, that's definitely an aspect of the show. But one day I randomly watched an episode of TNG that blew me away. It was completely engaging, mystifying, and entertaining. From that point on I watched as much as I could and fell in love. The show's staples are of course Jean Luc Picard and Commander Data. Other characters like Riker, Worf, and Geordi are great too... but Picard and Data are just perfect and I could not get enough of watching them.
ST:TNG's writing was diverse and intelligent. It covered so many topics that are relevant today. This is something that most people don't know about Star Trek. It's not just a bunch of fantasy nonsense. There is a lot of moral ambiguity. It's not the Good Guys vs the Bad Guys. Even the conflict against the Borg had a funny parallel to the Federation. I mean, the Federation is kind of like the Borg in some ways. They want everyone to follow their principles. But of course the Borg was just one small part of the show. There are so many different conflicts and happenings and mysteries and weirdness and fucking awesomeness. There is also a ton of great humor on the show, though sometimes it was subtle. ST:TNG just stands as the behemoth of sci-fi shows. It had its share of sub-par episodes over its seven season span, but for the most part it is full of a variety of interesting, compelling episodes.
1. LOST - I've seen LOST seasons 1-2 over 6 times, and seasons 3-4 probably over 4 or 5 times. Despite this, I am *still* finding things hidden in the show that I didn't notice before. Some people say that the show seems like the writers are just messing around and writing it as they go along... but it's just so not the case if you actually sit there and watch the thing and take notice. They actually have a ton of stuff from Season 1 that connects to the recent seasons and there are still unresolved mysteries.
Some people don't like that about LOST. Some people hate having questions that constantly go unanswered. But definitely not me. I have an insatiable imagination. I can sit around for hours thinking about this show. I love going on Internet forums and reading people's theroies about the show. The amount of depth the writers have put into the show's mythology is just amazing.
But, even after all that is said... the main reason LOST is great and has been successful is its characters and the actors who play them. If it weren't for that, I'm sure LOST would have flopped a long time ago. The writers have said that the characters are the cake and the sci-fi mythos is the icing. I agree with that. The ensemble cast of the show is so strong.
I really need to try to wrap this up because I need to go to bed and I could honestly write about this show all fucking day. There are scenes in LOST that took my breath away. There are scenes that made me burst into laughter. And yes, there are scenes that got me really choked up. LOST has everything I want in a show: mystery, drama, great directing, great story, great suspense, and memorable characters. It's all there. LOST is the best show ever on television. Fuck what anyone else thinks.
Decided to make another list, because I can and I wanted to.
20. Jeopardy! - The only game show I ever really liked, other than some silly ones on Nickelodeon when I was a kid growing up. Jeopardy is a staple of my family. We would watch it every night at dinner.
19. Captain N: The Game Master - One of my fondest childhood nostalgia cartoons. Captain N was my wildest dreams brought to the television screen... a boy gets sucked into his Nintendo set and goes on adventures with his favorite characters. And he flirts with a princess. Oh, good times.
18. NewsRadio - A much underrated comedy show from the 90s. Phil Hartman and Dave Foley were great on here. Especially Phil. RIP.
17. Star Trek: Voyager - Definitely not my favorite Trek, but a good series nonetheless. I think its main downfall with me was that I never really got into any of the characters that much. Tom Paris grew on me over time, as well as The Doctor... and Seven of Nine was of course entertaining in her own way (though her character was cool). But the majority of the cast was pretty boring. And I definitely didn't like Janeway much as a captain.
16. The Twilight Zone (original) - Alright, so this classic show deserves to be higher up on the list. But I never truly, obsessively got into this show. But there are some killer episodes and the writing was genius.
15. Jericho - A great post-apocalyptic show that unfortunately got canned. Some of the character arcs were done pretty poorly and I attribute that to the show’s failure. But there were a few great characters and the overall plot was great and full of depth. Even though this show didn’t make it too far, like some others on this list, it deserves proper recognition.
14. Arrested Development - Speaking of shows that got canned that didn't deserve it... wow. Fox is notorious for being idiotic like that. Arrested Development has some of the most ridiculous characters, and a great directing style. Its absurdity isn't as ostensible as some other comedies and I think that gave it a good balance.
13. The Office (UK) - I like the American Office a lot, but the UK one is A+mazing. Gareth is so much funnier than Dwight. And come on... David Brent is so much better than Michael Scott. The American version has its perks and has obviously been more successful, but I much preferred the subtlety of the UK version. Credit is due and given.
12. Upright Citizens Brigade - This comedy is one whose absurdity was much less subtle than Arrested Development. UCB was sketch comedy on hallucinogens. Though it went downhill from Season 1, it remains one of my favorite comedy shows because of its insane ability to make you think, "How the FUCK did they think of that?" I mean, come on. Bucket of Truth? Poo Stick? Power Marketing? NEW BRAIN!!!!!!!! Hyper-minimalism. The Saigon Suicide Show. Astronaut Prejudice... fucking Astronauts. You wouldn't want one of those damn astronauts living in your neighborhood. And the end of the Time Machine episode=pure genius.
11. 30 Rock - Tina Fey. She has become a sensation this year. I'm definitely in love with this show. The characters are all great. Tracy Morgan (Tracy Jordan) is just out of control. Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) is just fantastic. And Frank (Judah Friedlander) is great along with all his weird hat-donning self.
10. 24 - This is kind of a guilty pleasure. When I first heard the premise of 24, it sounded like such a gimmick. Just some dumb action show with the "real time, 24 hours of a day in a season" as novelty. But I had a friend pull me into it by letting me borrow the Season 1 DVD. I got hooked. What can I say? The suspense on the show is well-written. Jack Bauer is actually somewhat interesting. I really wish it had more of an ensemble cast, though. I don't like how they recycle through so many characters. There are some good ones mixed in there that deserved more screen time. Other than that minor defect, this show is amazing, and I do have an alpha male who loves action lurking deep within me, somewhere.
9. Curb Your Enthusiasm - Larry David in all his cynical glory. I empathize so much with him and his interaction with people. CYE is just great and there's not much more to say.
8. Battlestar Galactica (new) - Battlestar had the potential to be even closer to #1. In fact, judging the miniseries and Season 1 alone, it is definitely top 3 quality. But the failures of Season 2 beyond leave such a bad taste in my mouth with this show. The direction they have taken it did not appeal to me at all. The mystery of the cylons was quickly unraveled and had little depth or anything interesting. They definitely didn't have very good plans for the long term of the show. The last season felt VERY contrived. BUT, nonetheless, Season 1 is just too goddamn amazing. Dark, realistic science fiction. Great characters. Great drama. Great battles. Great mystery. That's what I like.
7. Star Trek: Deep Space 9 - DS9's main quality that appealed to me was its plot. The Dominion War is one of the most epic things ever in any Star Trek series, if not *the* most. The over-arching plot between all of the seasons was so well written. Unfortunately some of the characters were a little one-dimensional. This show was great, but it could have been even better if they spent a little more time with the characters. Fortunately there was another show even more epic coincidentally on a space station that DID flesh out its characters, and its recognition is below. Oh, and Garak owns you.
6. Firefly - Another Fox show that was retardedly canned. This is the epitome of just that... a show with great potential that doesn't get a second chance to prove itself. Fortunately it at least got a movie to cover some holes, but definitely not to the extent that we all wanted. How this show never got a second season just blows my mind. The characters are so finely crafted and memorable. The balance of drama and humor was immaculate. The depth of the world they created was grand. Oh, Firefly... why did you have to die down?
5. Seinfeld - My favorite comedy show. Pretty typical, yeah. But Seinfeld is just... wow. There are have been so many moments where I've thought of this show because it is so right about so many things that we never take the time to think about. So many sentences I've started with "Well... it's kind of like that episode of Seinfeld where..." The main characters are all fantastic and their interactions make the show what it is. Larry David's touch is ubiquitous and genius. I mean, it's Seinfeld... do I really need to say more?
4. Babylon 5 - I mentioned in my Deep Space 9 description another epic sci-fi show on a space station. Of course, this is Babylon 5. Unfortunately Season 1 sucked badly but Season 2 and the entire rest make up for it. Babylon 5 was written by J. Michael Straczynski and the way it was written is the paragon of so many shows today. Each episode had an "A" storyline which had a beginning, middle, and an end. But the episode also had a "B" storyline which arced throughout the entire season. And there was also a "C" storyline that arced over the entire series. The show is the epitome of epic. The Shadow War's buildup and climax from subtle suggestions to all out war was simply sublime.
The characters were all fleshed out and great. Londo Mollari stands out as one of my favorite characters of all time (maybe I'll make a list of those, sometime!) due to his dark cynicism and dying pride of his empire. He was so carefully crafted as a character that was not quite a villain but definitely not good. His morals were all over the floor at certain points of the show. Nonetheless, I couldn't help but feel empathetic toward Londo. He wasn't evil... just vastly misguided.
3. Mad Men - Mad Men quickly became one of my favorite shows, right from the first episode I saw. The directing is probably the best I've seen on television. It brings television on par with great cinema in terms of quality, as it SHOULD be doing. Because so many shows just try to suck up ad money, they are just trite and predictable and often poorly directed. How ironic it is that Mad Men follows an advertising company. I actually find the office dealings very interesting. And of course Don Draper's product pitches are awe-inspiring. The view into the 60s is a great touch to the show. But of course it's all about the characters in the end... Peggy, Don, Peter, and pretty much everyone else. Mad Men is just amazing.
2. Star Trek: The Next Generation - I almost don't know what to say here. When I was a kid, Star Trek seemed boring. I don't know. I liked Star Wars, but I just had this impression of Star Trek being a silly show with people shouting out a lot of technobabble and shooting aliens with phasers. And yeah, that's definitely an aspect of the show. But one day I randomly watched an episode of TNG that blew me away. It was completely engaging, mystifying, and entertaining. From that point on I watched as much as I could and fell in love. The show's staples are of course Jean Luc Picard and Commander Data. Other characters like Riker, Worf, and Geordi are great too... but Picard and Data are just perfect and I could not get enough of watching them.
ST:TNG's writing was diverse and intelligent. It covered so many topics that are relevant today. This is something that most people don't know about Star Trek. It's not just a bunch of fantasy nonsense. There is a lot of moral ambiguity. It's not the Good Guys vs the Bad Guys. Even the conflict against the Borg had a funny parallel to the Federation. I mean, the Federation is kind of like the Borg in some ways. They want everyone to follow their principles. But of course the Borg was just one small part of the show. There are so many different conflicts and happenings and mysteries and weirdness and fucking awesomeness. There is also a ton of great humor on the show, though sometimes it was subtle. ST:TNG just stands as the behemoth of sci-fi shows. It had its share of sub-par episodes over its seven season span, but for the most part it is full of a variety of interesting, compelling episodes.
1. LOST - I've seen LOST seasons 1-2 over 6 times, and seasons 3-4 probably over 4 or 5 times. Despite this, I am *still* finding things hidden in the show that I didn't notice before. Some people say that the show seems like the writers are just messing around and writing it as they go along... but it's just so not the case if you actually sit there and watch the thing and take notice. They actually have a ton of stuff from Season 1 that connects to the recent seasons and there are still unresolved mysteries.
Some people don't like that about LOST. Some people hate having questions that constantly go unanswered. But definitely not me. I have an insatiable imagination. I can sit around for hours thinking about this show. I love going on Internet forums and reading people's theroies about the show. The amount of depth the writers have put into the show's mythology is just amazing.
But, even after all that is said... the main reason LOST is great and has been successful is its characters and the actors who play them. If it weren't for that, I'm sure LOST would have flopped a long time ago. The writers have said that the characters are the cake and the sci-fi mythos is the icing. I agree with that. The ensemble cast of the show is so strong.
I really need to try to wrap this up because I need to go to bed and I could honestly write about this show all fucking day. There are scenes in LOST that took my breath away. There are scenes that made me burst into laughter. And yes, there are scenes that got me really choked up. LOST has everything I want in a show: mystery, drama, great directing, great story, great suspense, and memorable characters. It's all there. LOST is the best show ever on television. Fuck what anyone else thinks.